How can I reuse or recycle old mobile phones?

I think this is up there with printer toner and ink cartridges: lots of places – including some charities – take them to reuse or recycle – but does anyone have any particularly noteworthy suggestions?

I imagine Googling ‘cellphone recycling’ would be a good start. Saw a news report on the ‘largest cellphone recycling company’ recycles the thingies by refurbishing them and selling em to developing nations..So thas extra nice.
Alternatively, recycle it in pieces. The battery to battery recyclers, and I imagine the larger computer/electronic recyclers accept them as well. They just melt em down for their component elements, after all.

In the US, there are charities which will take old cell phones and give them to women who’ve been in abusive relationships, so if something bad happens (like their old boyfriend shows up) they have a phone to use.

Give a broken cell phone to a gadget-mad toddler to play with. If he has his own cell phone to play with, chances are he will trash your (working) cell phone less. I met a boy of 2 who was immensely proud of his own (broken) cell phone.

i work in a preschool and we have phones for the children to play with, you put 10 on the table and they are gone in seconds, i look around and they are talking to each other with the phones held up the their ears! its so cute. also they are good in a treasure basket for younger children.

I work for a non-profit that has started an electronic recycling program, LCI Recycles. We take in anything from Computers and Printers to Cell Phones and PDAs. For more information about the services we provide you can visit our website, http://www.lcirecycles.com, or you can contact me directly: 919-596-8277 ext. 175. We have Computer Recycling Drives the last Friday of every Month from 10am-2pm. You could bring it by then! 4500 Emperor Blvd, Durham, NC 27703

Theres a website- envirofone.com Basically they pay you for your old phone. I just got £15 (or £17.50 worth of Argos vouchers) for a not very moders Samsung phone. They even send you a freepost package.

i tried doing that for my new Alcatel OT708 phone but i cant get a penny from any ‘money for phones’ websites, i thought it should get something because its a touchscreen phone with internet and camera, but i can’t get anything for it

Hi
If you go to coolaphone website you get coola credits for mobiles where you can get credits to spend for really good things, eg iTunes, luxury hampers, a night in a luxury botique hotel
Much better than a few pounds
Have a look. If you want to help charity just put your phone in an envelope and address is to FREEPOST, BBC CHILDREN IN NEED – it will create a donation of between £4-£80 depending on what it is and condition. This runs all year not just around the actual CIN day

Easy, put in an envelope and address to Freepost, BBC Children in Need, this way your phone will be reused if possible or recycled in a totally greenway if not reusable. Any funds generated by reuse go to Children in Need, so far these phones have raised £101,297 for this present campaign and this figure is still rising.
BE GOOD AND GREEN

We offer up to £200 cash for your old,new working and none working mobile phones or alternitavely you can opt to donate this to your chosen charity, it is up to the individual to decide. We have a national FREEPOST service and payment is within 7 days.

http://www.selloldphone.co.uk offer cash for old,new,working and none working mobile phones they have an online tracking system which enables users to track their orders and payment is within 48 hours after receipt of the mobile phones. They also accept certain chargers with certain types of phones. http://www.greenertomorrow.org.uk the sister company offer cash for printer cartridges

http://www.selloldphone.co.uk offer cash for old,new,working and none working mobile phones they have an online tracking system which enables users to track their orders and payment is within 48 hours after receipt of the mobile phones. They also accept certain chargers with certain types of phones and offer a freepost service with envelope provided if needed. http://www.greenertomorrow.org.uk the parent company of http://www.selloldphone.co.uk and the company offer cash for printer cartridges

Recycle your mobile phone for Refuge to support women and children who have experienced domestic violence. In this country, one woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her lifetime and two women are killed by a partner or former partner each week – this is a fantastic way to support these women in need. Send your phone freepost to REFUGE, GREENER SOLUTIONS, FREEPOST, LON17592, MITCHAM, CR4 3UZ.

Recycle your old mobile phone and printer cartridges and generate up to £30 to the British Red Cross. Just visit http://www.redcross.org.uk/recycle to order a freepost envelope. Thank you for your support.

Hey,
My favourite way of recycling mobile phones is sellign them to http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk/.
They give a good amoutn of cash for your used mobile phone, I love it really. So far I’ve sent 3 of my mobile phones.

The phones go to isolated areas, or are taken apart and sold to manufacturers. It’s great to do something good for the environment, and actually getting paid for that!

I found a website called http://www.sellthatmobile.com and i found the service second to none. Fonebanks quotes were around £11 and envirofone was £7 for a nokia 6310i. Well i had five of them and sellthatmobile.com paid me £14 each thats £70! I would of had around £55 at fonebank and £35 at envirofone.

I really shop about when money is involved, however they had done this already and listed that model under their most wanted phones page where they guarentee to beat any other quotes. They also recycle phones in all conditions.

All in all i would and have reconmended them to all of my family and friends.

One great way to recycle your old mobile phone is through using sites like Mobile Phone Xchange. MPX is one of the UK’s leading mobile phone recycling sites, I used it and made over £110 from an old Nokia handset I had lying around.

fonesforsafety® is a London-wide and UK-wide project – supported by the Home Office, ACPO, London Met Police, The Body Shop, Comic Relief and the City Bridge Trust (amongst others) which reconfigures unwanted/old mobile phones into 999-only emergency phone alarms which are given to individuals living with Domestic Violence. Phones that cannot be reused are recycled – generating income towards sustaining the project. You can send phones (foc) to:
fonesforsafety®
c/o CRISP
FREEPOST LON 15948
London SE17 1BR

I’ve sold old mobiles online in the past and found the best website to use was http://www.cash4phone.co.uk they offered a good price compared to the likes of envirofone and mazuma and sent me my cheque quickly!!

Simply Recycle offer very competitive prices for mobile phones regardless of condition. They have been established for 2 years now and are well known for their reliable and efficient service, i have had no problems whatsoever with them. There websites are

Neat trick for teachers: keep an old mobile phone in your desk. When irritating kids’ phones go off in your lessons, confiscate the phone, do a quick sleigh-of-hand switcheroo for the broken phone and proceed to calmly smash it to pieces in front of the class. Having a hammer handy is especially impressive… You only have to do this once!

I work for a charity and we are always looking for mobile phones to send to third world countries. If the phone is not working we will send it to one of the companies who offer cash for mobile phones. The cash we get for the phones helps raise vital funds needed.

We are always grateful to recieve old mobiles phones which are sold to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research. You can send them to our office at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol BS16 1LE or you can ring our office on 0117 340 4831 and we will send you a bag which you can send Freepost to recycle and the money will still come to BRACE. Thank you

I donated all of my old cell phones to the service men and women overseas. The military has the phones fixed, if broken. Mine all worked and even had chargers with them. Give them a call. They will send you a postage free special envelope to mail them in. I came about knowing this because one day a mailer came to my mailbox. At least I know my phones were being put to good use and not in the landfill where so many things go.

you could save your old phone incase your old phone breaks . this could be handy if you need a phone straight away because the sim which you could transfer all contacts on should still work in your new phone

Hi, just found your blog which looks nice. So many friends have shared their opinions to recycle an old phone. It takes about 20 percent less energy to manufacture compared to most other phones, comes with an envelope to recycle your old phone and the packaging is of recycled paper.

Hi – we have had a number of emails recently asking if we still accept mobile phone to recycle to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research?
Yes we do.
If you contact us we will send you a FREEPOST envelope.
Ring 0117 340 4831 or Email lynda@alzheimers-brace.org or write to The BRACE Appeal Office, Frenchay Hospital, BS16 1LE
Thank you